Doree's Day

Postity Post Post!

Ok. So apparently if I just keep writing, I'll get the hang of it. But what happens when you really don't know what to write? Just talk about my day? Do people really want to read about how I spent the day helping file back to school paper work at the boys school today? Or that I bailed on making grilled pork and we had tacos and salad instead?

Oh wait! Holy crud!! I forgot about the...nope. I'm saving topic for tomorrow's post!

Yea! The best summer day...and the last!

We met Alex, Heike and assorted kids at Capitola Beach this afternoon. It was beautiful! Perfect day to get covered in sand and swim in the brisk Pacific waters. The boys had a great time with all their buddies. We intended to head back in time for karate practice, but were distracted by a taffy shop. Carousel Taffy in the Mercantile shops. We walked in and the boys gasped at the sight of a room full of salt water taffy! We grabbed a cauldron (that's what they had for baskets) and stated to systematically grab four of each flavor. A swipe of the debit card later and we were on the road to tooth decay and happiness. Yum. Although it was tasty, I still remember the salt water taffy my parents would bring back This is what I remebered...not buttered popcorn or caramel apple flavor. But I'm all for change. Sweet, sticky chewy wax paper wrapped change.We sampled are way throught the twists and turns of Hwy. 17 and the boys fell asleep before we hit Hwy. 85. We never made it to karate, but had a great last day of summer and enough taffy to ensure sweet dreams....

New School Year......New Blog Year!

So my friend Vero over at Little Elephants did 300 posts in 365 days. How awesome is that?! She's been politely hinting that I should write more...and I know I should. So here goes!

Right now the boys are snuggled on the floor and we're all watching Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. Tomorrow we're planning on heading to the beach for a last summer fling. School starts Tuesday morning. And I head to the DMV on Wednesday to renew my drivers license. I should have plenty to write about!

Who's The Boss?

The boys were having  one of those days. I might as well have been speaking in Swahili, because they didn't hear a word I was saying. I'll spare you all the gory details, but it ended up in a "BOYS!! Sit on the couch, we need to chat." Then I started in, calmly mind you, on Parental Lecture #372: How We All Contribute to the Maintenance of the Household.  They were fidgety, not really paying attention.

"Henry, you are not the boss William. William, you are not the boss of Henry. I got news for you, Dad and I are the boss of both of you."

The look of shock on their faces was priceless. Henry broke out the classic angry face, Will's eyes teared up a bit. I honestly don't think this idea had occurred to them.

Eventually we worked through it, everyone was calm and went to be early.... bosses orders!

My Husbands Career Move

As many of you may know, Mike travels to Germany quite a bit with work. I'm always sad to see him go, but knowing  he's having a productive trip, eases the burden. He has some wonderful colleagues that he can relax with after work with dinner and maybe a drink. That always makes me feel better... nothing more depressing than imagining him sitting alone in a hotel watching reruns of "Baywatch"

Sometimes it seems like he has another life over there, but I quickly dismiss that idea. It's ridiculous! He's just there on business, right? That's what I thought. But then I found out...he...was...*take a deep breath* ....moonlighting! Another job? Why would he do that?! To support some crazy European lifestyle? I guess it takes euros to hob nob at "The Cave".

You might ask what lead me to my horrifying discovery. It was something as innocent as an email. "Hi Sweetie! Here's a shot of the DST Happy Van." and attached  was this picture:

What was I to think?! Obviously he's a part-time shuttle driver. Shocking. *sob sob sob*

Alright, here's the real story, and it's way funnier than my  moonlighting angle. Mike heads off to Germany. Goes to the rental car place and finds out that the only car available is a "VW Van". He's thinking fun Eurovan or Vanagon type of vehicle. Nope. Wrong. Uh-nun. It's an 8 passenger van, bigger than our minivan. "What the  heck! I'll keep it and shuttle the team around" he thinks. 

He drives over to the office with the whole gang, and lets them off at the main entrance. He needs to park in a larger space away from the main parking area, because it's such big van. Everyone hops off and an unknown SAP employee hops in. Mike tries to explain to her that he needs to park, but there is a little language barrier issue. He looks behind him and sees the exact same van, but this one has a little SAP logo on it, and points it out to her. She realizes the mix up and scurries out of the van, a bit embarrassed.

Then after I receive the photo in my inbox, I did a little quick and dirty PS on it. It's obvious who Fred is, but the big question is:

Who's Scooby?

WooHoo! Maker Faire dates announced!

Maker Faire website is here. Check it out ASAP! We had such fun last year.We are going...both days this time. One day with kids, the other without.

I might even sign up to do a pipe cleaner craft workshop...I'll keep you posted.

My First Knitting Class

Last night was the first night of my knitting class. I wasn't sure what to expect. Would I be the youngest one there? Would I be the only true beginner? What if it was boring? As it turns out,I was in for a bit of a surprise.

To set the stage, it was held at a local yarn shop in Los Altos. Now, if you call Los Altos a town, you will quickly be corrected my most residents (over the age of 50) that it is not a town, but a "village". How quaint... whatever. It has a Jamba Juice and a Starbucks... village schmillage.The shop is called "Uncommon Threads" and it's fabulous. Every time I walk in I want to buy yarn. It's all so yummy...

So, I walk in the door and the woman behind the counter says, "You must be Doree. You look like a Doree." (Apparently Dorees are easy to spot once domesticated.)I put on my name tag and find a spot at the table. It's a great table. Narrow and sort of rustic looking. Very cozy, as much as a table can be cozy.A few other women gather round and it's a nice mix of ages and abilities. The class starts and I can tell it's going to be fun. Somehow you can just tell, good chemistry I guess. As the night progresses and the instructor sees that we are all catching on fairly quickly she makes an observation. "This group is doing great, much better than my last group. Oh, such troubles I had with them!" We begged for more information...I mean really, how rowdy can a knitting get? "Well" she said, "One woman ended up in jail."

*insert image of me with my jaw dropped and my knitting needles motionless*

Her imprisonment was unrelated to the fiber arts, but distressing nonetheless. Another woman, after being shown a certain technique by the instructor responded with ,"I'm not going to do it the way you showed me because I'm an adult and can make my own decisions." Good for her. Apparently she was a teacher, but hated following directions. (Note to self: Find out which district she teaches in. Warn the locals)

Then there was the woman who missed 4 out of 7 classes and wanted the shop staff to take time out of their day to teach her what she missed. I'm pretty sure that was what the actual class was for. Maybe it's up for interpretation.She demanded a refund, and after some uncomfortable encounters, the owner decided to refund her the full amount, under the condition that she never set foot in the store again. Banned from the yarn shop! I've done some rebellious things in my day, but I've *never* been banned from a craft related establishment! Shocking!

I'll keep you posted. This should be fun...

Double Oh-My-God!

This past  Saturday night we had early dinner with Alex & John, and then took the kids to a Kids Night at a nearby gymnastics place. (For those of you who are locals, Twister Gym in Mountain View has a great kids night once a month.) We split up and they went to see "The Good Shepard" and we went to see "Casino Royale"

We had expected the theater to be somewhat empty, but nope, it was quite full. We had to sit in the second row... luckily it had the nice reclining chairs. Previews began and the only ones I can remember are for "Ghost Rider" and "Pan's Labyrinth". One I *really* want to see and the other I don't. Can you guess which is which?

So the movie starts. I loved the title graphics. Reminded me of a 2-tone record cover, think The Specials...The Selecter. Super fun! Then of course, there's Daniel Craig. *warming up my teen aged girly-girl voice* Oh-my-god. He's sooooo hot! Like I *totally* think Sean Connery was like hot an' all back in the day, but I mean...helllloooooo! Have you gotten a good look at Daniel Craig?! :)'

I've had dreams, hot torrid dreams...hugging curves, tight cornering, handling every twist and turn like a pro...Duh! Get your mind out of the gutter! Not about him! About this!!!! Oh-my-god...it's so sexy!!!!!!!!!

*regaining her composure* So in closing, it was a great movie, the opening chase scene was worth the $10 admission. Go see it if you haven't yet, and call me, I'd see it again, any day!

Don't stop believin' !

Yesterday the Boys and I were loading up some toys into the back of the minivan. Since we recently cleaned out the boys room of things they have outgrown, we had a few items to pass on. Instead of Goodwill, it turns out one of the moms in Henry's class is looking for toys send to a Native American reservation. She said some of the kids didn't get any presents for Christmas.When I passed this fact onto the boys they looked at me quizzically. Like I was talking crazy talk. I reminded them that some people aren't able to buy lots of toys and things because money is tight, they cut me off and said, "No, Mom we understand that!" They were happy to pass them on to kids who would appreciate them.

"But what about Santa?" said Henry.
"Yeah, Mom, didn't Santa bring them anything?" asked William.
"I'm sure Santa brought them a present or two, but wouldn't it be nice if they got a few extra to play with?" I answered.

I love those guys...

Happy New Year!

Happy 2007! I'm not making any resolutions this year. Made enough to last me a lifetime in the past... who needs any more. But what I am doing is this year is working on writing more. Not just here, but in general. Writing lists, email, to do items, letters, cards, shopping lists, ideas, thoughts, business plans,invitations,proposals, and even the occasional "wash me" on a dirty car. Who knows, some of it may even be interesting!

So there you have it.

What will you not be resolving this year?

Ich vermisse meinen Sweetie.

Mike’s been in Germany since Sunday and was to have come back to day. But, nope. He’s staying until next Friday. Bleh. I know it’s important that he be there, and the project is going well. Nothing worse than long business trips when the work is frustrating and not productive. (I think back to those Memphis trips he made to FedEx. Ugh.) Everything here is fine, the boys are enjoying school, Fiona is sassy, but something is just off. No random Giant Octopus attacks, no spontaneous dancing, no football tossing on the way to school. Worst of all Fiona just doesn't understand the humor of The Venture Brothers.  Sheesh!

Oh well...absence makes the heart grow fonder, right?

Request for cake pictures

I've had a few, ok, LOTS of requests to get photos of my cakes online. I finally did it. I'll write more about them later, but for now...enjoy!

Click here: Doree Cakes on Flickr.

The Pancake Hub

We were planning to join the Russell's on a Sunday trip to the Exploritorium to have an end of summer day of running amok amongst science. Mike was feeling under the weather, so he stayed behind to rest. After a lazy start, we were trying to think of a good place to eat. Mind you we had 4 adults and 5 kids, ages 3 - 7. John suggested we go to I-Hop. Or is it iHop? Has Jonathan Ive redesigned the pancake experience?

"Very often syrup is the most immediate, the most explicit way of defining what these pancakes become in people's minds. What flavor is it? What does it taste like? How am I going to eat it? Where am I going to pour it? How much is it going to drip? The intellectual challenge of addressing these questions through pancakery is totally seductive." -J. Ive (sort of)

Anyhoo, we headed off to iHop. It was Sunday at noon, the prime post-church pancaking time and it was crowded. I moved forward through the waiting masses of panckae lovin' folks to give my name to the host. My first mistake was to wait politely for my turn. Sheesh! Some pushy lady cut in front of me and tried to get her name on the list. I gently elbowed her and sweetly said,"Oh, sorry, I didn't see you sneak up behind me. Yes, that's Doree...party of nine." As I peered into the depressingly beige dining room, the thought of nine of us crammed in booth or squished at a table, jockeying for syrup and silverware seemed a bit daunting. I suggested we try somewhere else, maybe a drive-thru. Once again, McDonald's to the rescue! I went to take my name off the list, smiling at Pushy Lady as I headed out. We loaded up and headed to Mickey D's. Since the driver side window is currently broken on Miasy the Minikkvan, I went in and ordered assorted Happy Meals for my passengers. (Three McNuggets and two Cheeseburger meals. 4 for boys and 1 for a girl)I gave my Polly Pockets toy to Zoe, enjoyed my fries, and sipped my little soda as we happily drove on to our next adventure.

Tiki Cake!

This was my birthday cake from 2 years ago. Yes, from time to time I make my own birthday cake. I look at it as an opportunity to make a cake that I've been wanting to do for a while.This one is one of my all time favorites! Mike helped me figure out the tiki construction...it's all cake. The flames are coating chocolate,that fakey stuff Wilton makes, but works so well. The party was great, highlighted by Spam Tikis from John & Jenn.

Coffee and Creativity

I like to think my creativity comes from within. Something that comes from a sacred place, an awakening of my spirit , the expression of my inner goddess...aw, hell. It comes from caffeine. Joe, java, mud. If every artist has a muse, mine is Alfred Peet.

Strong drip coffee, sugar, and half & half. That’s my poison. Cappuccinos and lattes are for pure enjoyment. Good ol’fashion drip coffee is my fuel. I find  if my hands are shaking from too much coffee (like there is such a thing!) my lines are straighter, cuts are cleaner and pipe cleaners are fuzzier.
Funny ain’t it.